Maybe some relevant pictures to DD

[Dan Powell]

They open up the drainage pipes to see what`s wrong and find the pipes in nice dry soil and water and mud on top - so they cultivate it deep to let the water go down to the drains, be it deep ploughing or subsoiling.

Talking to a friend the other day who has low lying ground that gets waterlogged, when he gets a trencher in to lay new drains he puts the stone right to the surface. Quite a good idea. Our biggest issue this winter was ponding right over the top of a completely dry drain caused by compacted clay (caused by tillage and heavy field traffic...).

 

[SilliamWhale]

The field I had the barley establishment shocker is being ploughed today. Its not what I want to do but running out of arguing energy about it (I think spray off and subsoil and cover crop would be better). Apparently direct drilling doesn't work on this farm since 15 acres out of 300 has established badly..

There is an advantage to it when its done though, there is a bit of brome which I took my eye off the ball from and so it will certainly sort that out and probably give three years of WW/OSR/WW now. Not looking forward to the soil erosion and seeing my worms being eaten though!

 

[Hartwig]

Simon, not much done to that really.....just combined and watched it 8 month raining and snowing (first weeks while fiddling around on other fields trying to get some wintercrops sown....) and got the drill out in mid-april after snow has melted !! The point is that it stayed dry for the next 3-4 weeks after drilling and rain returned when crops where established up and away - that is the big difference to autumn drilling the last 3 years and even spring drilling last year, when we had a cold and rainy april after crops where drilled. The field with the beans now whas a totally different picture with oats drowned in the hollow, yellow on top of the loam-hills and right in the middle of the hill-sides and reasonably green between, mean just down the hilltop (sometimes, where more OM and better self-drainage due to gravity ??) and up the hollows (where the drain-pipes end). Ploughing could have been better then - that`s the point that can make it a desaster : you never know for sure before !!! And I can`t afford to be full eqipped with all type of machines for all cases, so I try to stick with what I have and adopt the system and my management to make it work....hopefully.


Stephen, I was a full convinced member of the drilling-at-an-angle-club, and still convinced, point is that poor farmer I am with 33 year old tractor have no RTK and was not able to find tramlines after combining after a few years, especially in beans and oats as only few drives through and crop grows well in the tramlines after a few years DDing, so the system is brilliant with many benefits, but works not for me any more in spring crops....winter-wheat and osr is no worry, plenty of passes and the slurry tanker make enough tramline to find it again with no doubt......
The Hosch CO with GEN-openers makes old tramlines totally invisible, so no way without RTK to drill at an angle with that.

 

[Elmsted]

Stephen, I was a full convinced member of the drilling-at-an-angle-club, and still convinced, point is that poor farmer I am with 33 year old tractor have no RTK and was not able to find tramlines after combining after a few years, especially in beans and oats as only few drives through and crop grows well in the tramlines after a few years DDing, so the system is brilliant with many benefits, but works not for me any more in spring crops....winter-wheat and osr is no worry, plenty of passes and the slurry tanker make enough tramline to find it again with no doubt......
The Hosch CO with GEN-openers makes old tramlines totally invisible, so no way without RTK to drill at an angle with that.

We have no RTK and can manage it easily in none row crops and row crops. Cost around $2000.

 

[Baling Hay]

To those convinced on weed control.

What are you trying to say with this photo Elmsted? That you don't need herbicides?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Why are Australia and New Zealand listed together???FFS don't they know there's a couple of thousand km called the Tasmin Sea i nbetween

Seems like those tree cutting GMO using people of South America at least care about re-cycling.